Posted!

Join the Conversation

Comments

Welcome to our new and improved comments, which are for subscribers only.
This is a test to see whether we can improve the experience for you.
You do not need a Facebook profile to participate.

You will need to register before adding a comment.
Typed comments will be lost if you are not logged in.

Please be polite.
It's OK to disagree with someone's ideas, but personal attacks, insults, threats, hate speech, advocating violence and other violations can result in a ban.
If you see comments in violation of our community guidelines, please report them.

A military dog who passed away suddenly was remembered by soldiers during a ceremony at Fort Polk's kennels.

Max, a 3-year-old German shepherd, was a certified patrol and drug detector who came to Fort Polk in 2015. He participated in training exercises and performed several demonstrations for the community.

"Corporal Max's loss came as a surprise and hit the detachment hard," said Lt. Col. Kirk Whittenberger, 519th Military Police Battalion commander, at the memorial.

"From the command perspective, MWDs are viewed as an enabling force that provide specialized military police capabilities to combatant commanders, home station security and contingency operations," Whittenberger said. "From the handler’s perspective, it’s about the loss of a team member — a team that has slowly formed over time, founded on a deep trust and sense of loyalty with an instinctive confidence, reinforced by endless training repetitions under the most difficult of environments. More simply, the handler and dog are dependent on each other to accomplish the mission, and the loss of either abolishes their team."

Kennel Master Staff. Sgt. Robert Neese praised Max's service to the country.

"As soldiers, we are given the choice of whether or not to serve in the armed forces; Max was not given that choice," Neese said. "While Max’s career was short, it was full of potential and promise. I am thankful, and we should all be thankful, for the sacrifices that man’s best friends have made for our country."

Max's collar, leash, gear and awards were on display during his Jan. 27 memorial at Fort Polk's Military Working Dog kennels. He was buried in a new a cemetery at the kennel.

Neese said Max's death brought awareness to the need for a cemetery there.

"Sometimes,when an MWD has been with a trainer through deployments, they'll be cremated when they pass away and the handlers like to keep the ashes," Neese said. "So we have another option for them to be buried at the MWD Cemetery."

"This collective effort has built a fitting place to remember Corporal Max, his predecessors and future detachment dogs," Whittenberger said.

Max had two handlers while at Fort Polk. Both described him as unique.

"Max was a different kind of dog," Staff Sgt. Daniel Hargrove said. "He wasn't like the typical dog you see here. He was stubborn but lovable."

"Max was always high strung and hardheaded. We were a little behind the learning curve because he was young and he needed work in the obedience portion of training," Pfc. Jesikah Waite said. "But we were getting there slowly but surely — moving along every day trying to improve on things. When he did remember or execute something, I was happy for him because that's a step in the right direction. He had the heart and the will to please me, his handler."

"He wanted to do the job," Waite said."This was what he was excited to do every day."